Eastern Medicine Rocks

I've been feeling like crap lately. Actually I've been feeling like crap for quite a while. In the past year I have watched my energy level go way down and my weight go up. The past few months have been the worst. Lots of stomach problems have left me fatigued, bitchier than normal, and generally uncomfortable all the time. It got to the point where anything I ate made me feel sick, and if I didn't eat I'd feel sick plus my hypoglycemia would act up and make everything worse.

Until I met Will.

It's a small world. I met my friend K last year when she began working in my office. We became friends, and when I wanted a new hairdo, she introduced me to Kuttie. Kuttie quickly became my most favourite hair-doer in the world. Last time I went in, she asked how I was, and since I like to complain, I went into how my stomach had been switched with it's evil twin from an alternate universe. Turns out she knew exactly what I was going through, as she has had the same problems most of her life. She claimed that no doctors or specialists had really helped until she went to see a Naturalpath.

She referred me to Will, who I promptly called and made an appointment with. When I went to see him, we both recognized each other but couldn't place where. Then it dawned on me that we had met in March at the SNAP event - when my friend Leut introduced him to me as his boyfriend!

Goddman this world is tiny.

Anyways, Will diagnosed that my liver and spleen Chi were out of wack. He put me on yet another restrictive diet (this time tailored to my needs), gave me a couple of chinese herb pills to take before eating, and did some acupuncture. Saying that my liver or spleen Chi is unbalanced my sound like total crap to some people, but the man knew what he was talking about.

It's been just one week, and I am feeling better and more alive than I have in months, and I have lost weight too. Granted, I can't enjoy breakfast anymore. Instead I have to eat congee - one cup of rice added to 8 cups of water and cooked for 6 hours. Sounds delicious doesn't it? It's basically pre-digested food so my body won't have to work at it. I have also cut out alcohol (again), sugar, raw vegetables, cold foods, carbonated beverages (bye bye beer), fresh fruit (it really sucks), fruit juice and many other tasty foods that make life worth living. Eventually I will be able to slowly introduce them back into my diet, but not for another few weeks.

The man is a miracle worker and I will only have to see him a few more times. The main difference I have noticed between the way he works, and the way my doctor works, is that he is very interested in getting to the root of the problem and all the factors that contribute to it. Doctors, I find, want to mask the symptoms and cure everything with some sort of pill. Not that I don't think it helps, but it really pays to explore one's options.

Case in point - my doctor's diagnosis (though he was very supportive of my visiting Will):

I have Acid Reflux and should take a prescription medicine every day to lower the acid - it's the same one that I already took for a month which worked for a few weeks but then started making me feel crappy again.

BTW - if anyone reading this in Toronto is interested, Will is at the Danforth Progressive Health Center (Broadview & Danforth), 416-462-1735.